Rosie Live

Rosie Live is a variety show starring Rosie O'Donnell that aired November 26, 2008 live from New York's Little Shubert Theatre on NBC. It contained singing, dancing, comedy routines and specialty acts. However, poor critical response and ratings doomed the project, and it was unofficially canceled.

Rosie Live
GenreVariety show
Developed byRosie O'Donnell
Written by
Directed byRichard Jay-Alexander
Starring
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
Production
Executive producers
  • David Friedman
  • Rosie O'Donnell
Producers
  • Liza Persky
  • Alison Sandler
Camera setupSingle-camera
Running time60 minutes
Production companies
Release
Original networkNBC
Original releaseNovember 26, 2008 (2008-11-26)
Related

Production

The show was produced by Universal Media Studios in association with O'Donnell's KidRo Productions. Rosie O'Donnell and David Friedman were the co-executive producers.[1][2] The show was broadcast live in accordance with O'Donnell's preference for live programming instead of tape.[3]

Guests

Ne-Yo and Alanis Morissette were the featured singers. Liza Minnelli and Gloria Estefan performed duets with O'Donnell. The Lombard Twins tap danced. Anti-Gravity performed a spinning act. The special also included performances by Rosie's Broadway Kids and guest appearances by Kathy Griffin, Conan O'Brien, Jane Krakowski, Harry Connick, Jr., Clay Aiken, Rachael Ray and Alec Baldwin.

Jennifer Cody appeared in a skit featuring O'Donnell as "Officer Lockstock" and Cody as "Little Sally", a reference to the off-Broadway show Urinetown. (Cody's husband, Hunter Foster, was in the original cast of Urinetown and was on the writing staff for Rosie Live.)

Reception

Critical response

The show received almost universally negative reviews from critics. The Los Angeles Times critic Mary McNamara wrote, "For those of us who are, and remain, Rosie fans, who think The View will never quite recover from her departure, who think her desire to resurrect the variety show was, and is, a great idea, disappointment does not even begin to describe it."[4] TV Guide critic Matt Roush panned the show as "dead on arrival,"[5] while Variety wrote "If Rosie O'Donnell and company were consciously determined to strangle the rebirth of variety shows in the crib, they couldn't have done a better job of it than this pre-holiday turkey."[6]

Ratings

The program finished in third place in its time slot, ahead of ABC and The CW but behind Fox and CBS.[7]

Episode Number Episode Rating Share Rating/Share
(18-49)		 Viewers
(millions)		 Rank
(Night)		 Rank
(Overall)
1 "Special/Pilot" 3.5 6 1.2/4 5.25 #3 #11

Cancellation

Initial plans were to, if the show had been successful, use the special as a pilot episode for a series of new Rosie Live episodes beginning January 2009, which would have made it the first traditional variety show to air as a regular series in the United States since The Wayne Brady Show in 2001, and the first on NBC since Marie and the infamous Pink Lady and Jeff in 1980. However, Rosie Live did not return due to poor ratings.[8][9][10][11]

See also

References
  1. Varley, Eddie (November 18, 2008). "BWW TV: Rosie 'Heats it Up' for NBC Variety Show Promo & How to Win Tickets". BroadwayWorld TV.
  2. "Happy Holidays - NBC Site". www.nbc.com. Archived from the original on December 5, 2008.
  3. Oldenburg, Ann (October 10, 2011). "Rosie O'Donnell's back in the talk game". Associated Press. Archived from the original on 10 October 2011 – via USA Today.
  4. McNamara, Mary (November 26, 2008). "Rosie O'Donnell's 'Rosie Live': What was she thinking?". Los Angeles Times.
  5. Matt, Roush (November 27, 2008). "Roush Dispatch: Rosie Live, Dead on Arrival". TV Guide. Archived from the original on December 4, 2008.
  6. Buckman, Adam (November 29, 2008). "Rosie Bomb Blast". New York Post.
  7. "TV Ratings: 'Criminal Minds' Steals Wednesday for CBS". Zap2it.com. November 27, 2008. Archived from the original on December 3, 2008.
  8. US Magazine (November 29, 2008). "Rosie: There Will Be 'No More' Variety Shows". omg.yahoo.com. Archived from the original on December 3, 2008 – via Us Weekly.
  9. "CNN Video". CNN. Retrieved May 22, 2010.
  10. Bauder, David (December 3, 2008). "Rosie's dreams of TV variety comeback are dashed". Associated Press. Archived from the original on December 6, 2008 – via Forbes.
  11. de Moraes, Lisa (December 3, 2008). "'Dancing' Sweeps Away Thanksgiving Week". The Washington Post.
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